Is Your Yoto Card Not Working? (Let’s Fix It Fast)

Yoto card not working, and you’re wondering why? Well, stay with us throughout this guide!

When you insert an audio card into your Yoto player, the device reads the NFC chip from the card, which is like a key to unlocking the content.

Then, the content is either played over the internet (if not downloaded previously) or through the internal storage of the Yoto audio player.

Hence, when an audio card is not working, there are a few possibilities:

Let’s walk you through all these solutions!

Yoto Card Not Working – The 6 Best Ways to Fix!

Note: Have you tried turning your Yoto player off and on?

1. Connect Yoto to the Internet

The first and most important step is to ensure that your Yoto player is online, since without an internet connection, new Yoto cards will not work.

As mentioned, the first time you insert a card, the content will start streaming over the internet and start downloading simultaneously.

When downloaded, you no longer need the internet to play the content from this card, but you will need to insert the card regardless.

So, we’re going to walk you through the setup process to ensure Yoto is online:

1. Verify that the Yoto player is on and charging.
2. Make sure to remove any inserted audio card.
3. Open the Yoto app and tap “Set Up a Player”.
4. Hold both Yoto orange buttons for 5 seconds.
5. Insert the 6-digit code into the Yoto application.
6. Tap “Continue” to proceed with the connection.
7. The app will prompt you to tap the “Join” button.
8. This will connect your phone to Yoto’s hotspot.
9. Select a Wi-Fi network from the connection list.
10. Insert the password and tap “Done” to connect.

That’s it. Your Yoto should now be online and when you insert the card the content should start to stream over the internet. 

Reminder: In the meantime, the content will download allowing offline listening in the future!

2. Optimize Your Wi-Fi Network

If your Yoto player won’t connect to the Wi-Fi or is connected, but the audio card just won’t start playing, perhaps the connection is weak/unstable.

So, the next step is to check and optimize the Wi-Fi connectivity, to ensure that your Yoto player is online, before trying to play the audio card.

We’ve prepared a few steps to ensure that your Yoto player is online:

2.1 Test Your Wi-Fi Connection

The first step is to ensure that your Wi-Fi is accessible. This is very easy as you only need your smartphone to connect to the Wi-Fi and try to surf the web.

If you notice that your phone is also offline when connected to the same Wi-Fi as your Yoto, the Wi-Fi network is definitely offline.

2.2 Optimize Your Wi-Fi Network

If your Wi-Fi is offline, you’ll need some troubleshooting:

• Power cycle your network router for 60 seconds.
• Check whether your broadband is online or not.
• Relocate the Yoto player next to the Wi-Fi router.
• Ensure that your Wi-Fi is on a 2.4 GHz frequency.

Pro Tip: If you have mobile data on your smartphone you can share a personal hotspot and try to connect Yoto with the phone’s Wi-Fi to test with.

3. Clean Your Yoto Card’s NFC

As mentioned, each Yoto card contains an NFC chip that must be read by the player regardless of whether your Yoto is connected to the internet.

So, if the player can’t read the NFC chip, the content will not start playing, hence it’s crucial to verify that the Yoto card is clean and readable.

We recommend using a microfiber cloth to wipe clean the surface of the card and ensure that you are inserting it correctly.

We also recommend using a flashlight to check whether there is an obstruction within the card reader of the Yoto player and possibly remove it to unclog the reader.

Warning: If the Yoto card is damaged, the NFC reader may not be able to pick up and unlock it!

4. Update the Player’s Firmware

If the device is connected to the Wi-Fi and online but the Yoto player card not working, you may be facing a software-related problem.

So, the next step we recommend is to check for any OS update, which can resolve software-level problems and hopefully restore the card’s functionality.

• To check for available Yoto updates, open the Yoto app, go to Account → Settings and check whether there is a button for updating.

Note: The software update takes approximately 5–10 minutes and only works when your Yoto player is securely connected to the Wi-Fi.

5. Test Playing Different Cards

As you are reaching the end of this guide, a quick thing (if you haven’t tried already) is to test playing a different Yoto card.

This will reveal whether the Yoto player is refusing to play any of your cards or just the one that you’re initially struggling with.

• We recommend testing with a downloaded card and a non-downloaded card.

This can further suggest whether the problem comes due to Yoto’s inability to download or if it’s a card problem.

Note: If your Yoto only plays cards with downloaded content, the device is either offline or there is ongoing Yoto maintenance, blocking the streaming.

6. Factory Reset the Yoto Player

If your Yoto card not working, even when the device is securely connected to the Wi-Fi, you may need to perform a factory reset.

This process will reinstall the operating system and erase all your downloaded content, so we only recommend the factory reset as a last-resort solution.

Here’s how to reset both Yoto Player and Yoto Mini in easy steps:

1. Hold all three buttons on your Yoto player.
2. Within 3 seconds, release all three buttons.
3. Quickly press the orange button on the right.
4. The nightlight must flash in an orange color.
5. When Yoto shuts down the reset is complete.

When the factory reset is over, you will need to set up the device by following the steps in the application and connecting Yoto to the Wi-Fi.

When ready, test whether the card is now working.

Yoto Card Still Not Working?

If your Yoto player is online, but a brand new (undamaged) card is not working, perhaps there is maintenance in the Yoto servers.

So, before rushing to conclusions, wait for 24 hours and retry.